Systems and methods for customized navigation

ABSTRACT

In some embodiments, apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful to providing customized in-store navigation. In some embodiments, there is provided a system for providing customized in-store navigation including shelving units; shelf electronic shelf labels; product electronic shelf labels; wireless access points (WAPs); one or more databases; a navigation services control circuit configured to transmit location information associated with the product ESLs at a retail store to an in-store navigation interface operable on a portable electronic device when the portable electronic device is inside the retail store; wireless beacons; and the in-store navigation interface configured to: receive an input; identify a target retail product; receive the location information; receive beacon; determine a location of the portable electronic device; determine a location of the target retail product; and display directions to the location of the target retail product on a display device.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.62/750,783 filed Oct. 25, 2018 (Docket No. 8842-144223-USPR_5159US01),which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates generally to providing navigation and/ordirection in a facility.

BACKGROUND

Retail stores are generally used for day-to-day shopping purposes.However, searching for a particular item in a large retail environmentcan sometimes become a challenging task.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Disclosed herein are embodiments of systems, apparatuses and methodspertaining to providing customized in-store navigation. This descriptionincludes drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary block diagram of a system providing customizedin-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 2 is a schematic illustration of shelving units of a system forproviding customized in-store navigation in accordance with someembodiments;

FIG. 3 is a schematic illustration of exemplary locations of wirelessbeacons of a system for providing customized in-store navigation inaccordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 4 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary map/directionsdisplayed on a portable electronic device of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 5 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary map/directionsdisplayed on a portable electronic device of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 6 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary map/directionsdisplayed on a portable electronic device of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 7 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary map/directionsdisplayed on a portable electronic device of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 8 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary map/directionsdisplayed on a portable electronic device of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 9 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary map/directionsdisplayed on a portable electronic device of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 10 is an exemplary flow diagram of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 11 illustrates an exemplary system for use in implementing systems,apparatuses, devices, methods, techniques, and the like in providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with several embodiments;

FIG. 12 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary map/directionsdisplayed on a portable electronic device of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 13 is an exemplary block diagram of a system providing customizedin-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments;

FIG. 14 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary map/directionsdisplayed on a portable electronic device of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments; and

FIG. 15 is a schematic illustration of an exemplary map/directionsdisplayed on a portable electronic device of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments.

Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity andhave not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensionsand/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures maybe exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improveunderstanding of various embodiments of the present invention. Also,common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in acommercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order tofacilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of thepresent invention. Certain actions and/or steps may be described ordepicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in theart will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence isnot actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have theordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressionsby persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above exceptwhere different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Generally speaking, pursuant to various embodiments, systems,apparatuses and methods are provided herein useful for providingcustomized in-store navigation to a user inside a retail store. In someembodiments, there is provided a system including a plurality ofshelving units in a retail store configured to store a plurality ofretail products. By one approach, each of the plurality of shelvingunits includes a plurality of shelves each distributed along a height ofand in between at least two support members coupled to each end of theplurality of shelves. In one configuration, the system may include aplurality of shelf electronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs). By oneapproach, each shelf ESL of the plurality of shelf ESLs may be mountedto a portion of the shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units. Inanother configuration, the system may include a plurality of productelectronic shelf labels (product ESLs) communicatively coupled to atleast one of the plurality of shelf ESLs. By one approach, at least oneof the plurality of product ESLs may be associated with at least one ofthe plurality of shelves of the shelving unit. By another approach, eachproduct ESL may be associated with a set of product items belonging to aparticular retail product of the plurality of retail products. Inanother configuration, the system may include a plurality of wirelessaccess points (WAPs) configured to wireless communicate with the atleast one of the plurality of shelf ESLs and the plurality of productESLs. For example, the plurality of WAPs may be coupled to an ESLservices control circuit. In another configuration, the system mayinclude one or more databases that may store a plurality of locationinformation associated with the plurality of product ESLs at the retailstore relative to a layout of a map of the retail store.

In another configuration, the system may include a navigation servicescontrol circuit coupled to the WAPs and the one or more databases. Byone approach, the navigation services control circuit is implemented ata server remote from the store location. By one approach, the navigationservices control circuit may transmit the plurality of locationinformation associated with the plurality of product ESLs at the retailstore to an in-store navigation interface operable on a portableelectronic device when the portable electronic device is inside theretail store. In another configuration, the system may include aplurality of wireless beacons located proximate to the plurality ofshelving units. By one approach, the plurality of wireless beacons maytransmit wireless beacon signals. In another configuration, the systemmay include the in-store navigation interface. By one approach, thein-store navigation interface may receive an input from a userassociated with the portable electronic device. Alternatively or inaddition to, the in-store navigation interface may identify a targetretail product of the plurality of retail products from the input.Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface mayreceive the plurality of location information associated with theplurality of product ESLs via a transceiver of the portable electronicdevice. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigationinterface may receive beacon signals transmitted by the plurality ofwireless beacons. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-storenavigation interface may determine, in cooperation with a first controlcircuit of the portable electronic device and based on the beaconsignals, a location of the portable electronic device. Alternatively orin addition to, the in-store navigation interface may determine alocation of the target retail product identified from the voice inputbased on the plurality of location information associated with theplurality of product ESLs. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-storenavigation interface may display directions to the location of thetarget retail product on a display device of the portable electronicdevice, wherein the directions to the location of the target retailproduct are overlaid on the layout of the map of the retail store.

In some embodiments, there is a method for providing customized in-storenavigation to a user inside a retail store including receiving, by anin-store navigation interface operable on a portable electronic devicewhen the portable electronic device is inside a retail store, an inputfrom a user associated with the portable electronic device. By oneapproach, the method may include identifying, by the in-store navigationinterface, a target retail product of a plurality of retail productsfrom the input. By another approach, the method may include receiving,by the in-store navigation interface from a navigation services controlcircuit, a plurality of location information associated with a pluralityof product ESLs via a transceiver of the portable electronic device. Inone configuration, at least one of the plurality of product ESLs may beassociated with at least one of a plurality of shelves of a shelvingunit of a plurality of shelving units in the retail store. In anotherconfiguration, each product ESLs of the plurality of product ESLs may beassociated with a set of product items belonging to a particular retailproduct of the plurality of retail products. In another configuration,each of the plurality of shelving units may include a plurality ofshelves each distributed along a height of and in between at least twosupport members coupled to each end of the plurality of shelves. Byanother approach, the method may include receiving, by the in-storenavigation interface, beacon signals transmitted by a plurality ofwireless beacons in the retail store. By another approach, the methodmay include determining, by the in-store navigation interface incooperation with a first control circuit of the portable electronicdevice and based on the beacon signals, a location of the portableelectronic device. By another approach, the method may includedetermining, by the in-store navigation interface, a location of thetarget retail product identified from the input based on the pluralityof location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs.In one configuration, the plurality of location information associatedwith the plurality of product ESLs may be transmitted by a plurality ofshelf electronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs) to a plurality of wirelessaccess points (WAPs). Alternatively or in addition to, the method mayinclude displaying, by the in-store navigation interface, a direction tothe location of the target retail product to a display device of theportable electronic device. In one scenario, the direction to thelocation of the target retail product may be overlaid on a layout of amap of the retail store. In another scenario, the plurality of locationinformation associated with the plurality of product ESLs at the retailstore relative to the layout of the map may be stored by one or moredatabases coupled to the navigation services control circuit.

To illustrate, FIGS. 1-11 are described below. FIG. 1 is an exemplaryblock diagram of a system 100 providing customized in-store navigationin accordance with some embodiments. FIG. 1 is explained with FIG. 2,which is a schematic illustration of shelving units of a system forproviding customized in-store navigation in accordance with someembodiments. The system 100 includes a plurality of shelving units 126in a retail store. The shelving units 126 may store a plurality ofretail products 204. By one approach, each of the plurality of shelvingunits 126 may include a plurality of shelves 206 each distributed alonga height of and in between at least two support members 132 a, 132 bcoupled to each end of the plurality of shelves 206. In someconfiguration, the system 100 may include a plurality of shelfelectronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs) 128. By one approach, each shelfESL of the plurality of shelf ESLs 128 may mounted to a portion of ashelving unit 202 of the plurality of shelving units 126. In oneexample, the shelf ESL 128 may be mounted at a top of one or both of thetwo support members 132 a, 132 b. In one scenario, each of the shelfESLs 128 may be mounted to each one of the at least two support members132 a, 132 b. In another example, the shelf ESL 128 may be mountedsomewhere along the height of at least one of the two support members132 a, 132 b. In another example, the shelf ESL 128 may be associatedwith a particular shelving unit 202. For example, each of the shelf ESLs128 may be associated with a particular shelving unit of the pluralityof shelving units 126. In some embodiments, a shelf ESL 128 may beassociated with a particular shelf and/or area inside a retail store.For example, the shelf ESL 128 may send wireless signals to one or moreWAPs 124 that are proximate to the shelf ESL 128. In response, thesignal strength between each of the WAPs 124 and the shelf ESL 128 maybe determined by the ESL services control circuit 122, the WAPs 124,other control circuit not shown, and/or one or more control circuitsshown in FIG. 1. Based on the determined signal strength between each ofthe WAPs 124 and the shelf ESL 128, the ESL services control circuit122, the WAPs 124, the other control circuit not shown, and/or the oneor more control circuits shown in FIG. 1 may triangulate the location ofthe shelf ESL 128. In another example, a second portable electronicdevice (not shown) associated with the retail store may be placedproximate the shelf ESL 128 while the second portable electronic devicesends communication signals with the WAPs 124. As such, the signalstrength (e.g., received signal strength indication (RSSI) measurements)between each of the WAPs 124 and the second portable electronic devicemay be determined and, based on the determination, the location of thesecond portable electronic device is triangulated by the ESL servicescontrol circuit 122, the WAPs 124, other control circuit not shown,and/or one or more control circuits shown in FIG. 1. Such triangulationtechniques based on signal strength are generally known in the relevantarts. In response, the ESL services control circuit 122, the WAPs 124,other control circuit not shown, and/or one or more control circuitsshown in FIG. 1 may associate the triangulated location of the secondportable electronic device as the location of the shelf ESL 128. By oneapproach, the WAPs 124 may include WIFI-based access points andBLUETOOTH-based access points, and/or other wireless communicationprotocols standard to the industry and/or one or more privately createdwireless communication protocols used by companies in the industry. Insome configuration, the triangulation may be performed using one or moreof the commercially known/available signal processingtechniques/methodology/algorithm. In one example, the plurality of shelfESLs 128 may include commercially available electronic shelf labels,user-modified commercially available electronic shelf labels, and/or thelike.

In some configuration, the system 100 may include a plurality of productelectronic shelf labels (product ESLs) 130. By one approach, the productESLs 130 may communicatively couple to at least one of the plurality ofshelf ESLs 128. By another approach, at least one of the plurality ofproduct ESLs 130 may be associated with at least one of the plurality ofshelves 126 of the shelving unit 202. In one example, each product ESLbeing associated with a set of product items belonging to a particularretail product of the plurality of retail products 204 as illustrativelyshown in FIG. 2. For example, a particular set of product ESLs 130 maybe associated with a particular shelf ESL 128. In one example, theparticular shelf ESL 128 may receive signals emitted by each of theparticular set of product ESLs 130. In one scenario, the particularshelf ESL 128 may determine that location of each of the particular setof product ESLs 130 and/or send the determined location to the WAPs 124.In another scenario, the particular shelf ESL 128 may determine thesignal strength (e.g., RSSI measurements) of received signaling emittedby each of the particular set of product ESLs 130 and/or send thedetermined signal strengths to the WAPs 124. In yet another scenario, aproduct ESL 130 may send wireless signals to one or more WAPs 124 thatare proximate to the product ESL 130. In response, the signal strengthbetween each of the WAPs 124 and the product ESL 130 may be determinedby the ESL services control circuit 122, the WAPs 124, other controlcircuit not shown, and/or one or more control circuits shown in FIG. 1.Based on the determined signal strength between each of the WAPs 124 andthe product ESL 130, the ESL services control circuit 122, the WAPs 124,the other control circuit not shown, and/or the one or more controlcircuits shown in FIG. 1 may triangulate the location of the product ESL130. By one approach, the WAPs 124 may include WIFI-based access pointsand BLUETOOTH-based access points, and/or other wireless communicationprotocols standard to the industry and/or one or more privately createdwireless communication protocols used by companies in the industry. Insome configuration, the triangulation may be performed using one or moreof the commercially known/available signal processingtechniques/methodology/algorithm. In some configuration, the system 100may include the plurality of wireless access points (WAPs) 124. By oneapproach, the WAPs 124 may wireless communicate with the at least one ofthe plurality of shelf ESLs 128 and the plurality of product ESLs 130.By another approach, the WAPs may couple to an ESL services controlcircuit 122. In some implementation, the ESL services control circuit122 may receive the plurality of location information transmitted by theplurality of product ESLs 130. Alternatively or in addition to, the ESLservices control circuit 122 may transmit particular pricing informationto each of the plurality of product ESLs 130. By one approach, the ESLservices control circuit 122 may transmit the particular pricinginformation to the shelf ESL 128 and the shelf ESL 128 sendscorresponding pricing information to each of the product ESLs 130associated with the shelf ESL 128. By another approach, the ESL servicescontrol circuit 122 may associate each of the shelf ESLs 128 and/orproduct ESLs 130 with areas/locations in the retail store. In such anapproach, locations of each of the shelf ESLs 128 and/or product ESLs130 relative to a layout map of the retail store may be stored by one ormore databases associated with the ESL services control circuit 122. Byyet another approach, the ESL services control circuit 122 may includeone or more locally located and cloud-based control circuits. In oneexample, the plurality of product ESLs 130 may include commerciallyavailable electronic shelf labels, user-modified commercially availableelectronic shelf labels, and/or the like. By yet another approach, theESL services control circuit 122 may include distributed computingcomputers, server, processors, and control circuits.

In some configurations, the system 100 may include one or more databases118. By one approach, the one or more databases 118 may store aplurality of location information associated with the product ESLs 130at the retail store relative to a layout of a map of the retail store.In one implementation, the one or more databases 118 may be distinctfrom the one or more databases 114 associated with the ESL servicescontrol circuit 122 as described above. In such an implementation, theone or more databases 118 may be associated with a navigation servicescontrol circuit 116. In yet another implementation, the ESL servicescontrol circuit 122 may send the plurality of location informationassociated with the product ESLs 130 to a core services control circuit120 and the core services control circuit 120 may send the plurality oflocation information associated with the product ESLs 130 to thenavigation services control circuit 116. In response, the navigationservices control circuit 116 may initiate the one or more databases 118to store the plurality of location information associated with theproduct ESLs 130. In some embodiment, one or more of the core servicescontrol circuit 120, the navigation services control circuit 116, andthe ESL services control circuit 122 may be locally located at theretail store. In one example, databases described herein, for example,the one or more databases 118 and the plurality of databases 114 mayinclude one or more semiconductor memories, random access memories(RAM), read only memories (ROM), hard disk drives (HDDs), solid-statedrives (SSDs), network-attached storage (NAS) devices, storage areanetworks (SANs), and the like. In some implementation, the plurality ofdatabases 114 may store one or more of a plurality of pricing data, aplurality of product items data, a plurality of product items salesdescriptions, and a plurality of promotional data. By one approach, thecore services control circuit 120 may access the plurality of databases114 and associate and/or send one or more information stored in theplurality of databases 114 to one or more of the ESL services controlcircuit 122 and the navigation services control circuit 116. In someimplementation, the core services control circuit 120 may receive theplurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs 130from the ESL services control circuit 122. Alternatively or in additionto, the core services control circuit 120 may transmit the plurality oflocation information of the plurality of product ESLs 130 to thenavigation services control circuit 116. In some embodiments, thenavigation services control circuit 116 may associate each of theplurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs 130with one or more floor areas in the retail store. Alternatively or inaddition to, the navigation services control circuit 116 may transmitthe map of the retail store to the in-store navigation interface 104.

In some configuration, the system 100 may include the navigationservices control circuit 116. By one approach, the navigation servicescontrol circuit 116 may couple to the WAPs 124 and/or the one or moredatabases 118. In one example, the navigation services control circuit116 may transmit the plurality of location information associated withthe plurality of product ESLs 130 at the retail store to an in-storenavigation interface 104 operable on a portable electronic device 102when the portable electronic device 102 is inside the retail store. Byone approach, the plurality of location information may be transmittedperiodically. By another approach, the navigation services controlcircuit 116 may determine, based on the portable electronic device 102communicative coupling with one or more WAPs 124, that the portableelectronic device 102 is inside the retail store. In response, thenavigation services control circuit 116 may transmit the plurality oflocation information to the portable electronic device 102. In someembodiments, the navigation services control circuit 116 may include oneor more locally located and cloud-based control circuits. In anotherexample, the navigation services control circuit 116 may includedistributed computing computers, server, processors, and controlcircuits.

In some configuration, the system 100 may include a plurality ofwireless beacons 112 located proximate to the plurality of shelvingunits 126. By one approach, the wireless beacons 112 may transmitwireless beacon signals. In some implementation, each wireless beaconsignal of the plurality of wireless beacons 112 may include a beaconidentifier. By one approach, the wireless beacon signals may betransmitted periodically by the wireless beacons 112. As such, as a userassociated with the portable electronic device 102 walks/shops at theretail store, the portable electronic device 102 receives the wirelessbeacon signals. In some embodiments, the wireless beacons 112 mayinclude WIFI-based beacons, BLUETOOTH-based beacons, and/or otherwireless communication protocols standard to the industry and/or one ormore privately created wireless communication protocols used bycompanies in the industry. In one implementation, the portableelectronic device 102 and/or the in-store navigation interface 104 via atransceiver 106 of the portable electronic device 102 may receive thewireless beacon signals from the wireless beacons 112 that are proximatethe portable electronic device 102. By one approach, the portableelectronic device 102 and/or the in-store navigation interface 104 incooperation with a first control circuit 108 of the portable electronicdevice 102 may determine the signal strength (e.g., take RSSImeasurements) of each of the wireless beacon signals received. Inresponse, based on the determined signal strength of the receivedwireless beacon signals from multiple wireless beacons, the portableelectronic device 102 and/or the in-store navigation interface 104 incooperation with the first control circuit 108 may determine thelocation of the portable electronic device 102 inside the retail store.For example, the portable electronic device 102 and/or the in-storenavigation interface 104 may triangulate signal strength measurements ofeach of the wireless beacon signals and determine based on thetriangulation the location of the portable electronic device 102. Indoortriangulation using WIFI and BLUETOOTH are generally known in the art.By one approach, the triangulation may be performed using one or more ofthe commercially known/available signal processingtechniques/methodology/algorithm. It is noted that in the illustratedexample of FIG. 1, the components illustrated below line 138 representthose components that are located within the retail store in use, andthose components above line 138 are components external to or remotefrom the retail store. It is understood that other non-illustratedcomponents exist to enable the various interconnections andcommunication between components. It is understood that in someembodiments, one or more components above line 138 could be at leastpartially implemented and located by components within the store, andvice versa.

FIG. 3 is shown to illustrate one or more placements of the plurality ofwireless beacons in the retail store. FIG. 3 is a schematic illustrationof exemplary locations 300 of wireless beacons of a system for providingcustomized in-store navigation in accordance with some embodiments. Byone approach, the system may include the system 100 of FIG. 1. In someimplementations, each wireless beacon of the plurality of wirelessbeacons 112 may be mounted proximate a top edge of the at least one ofthe at least two support members 132 a, 132 b of the shelving unit 202,as shown in 302 (aisle side view of the shelving units 126). In oneexample, the wireless beacon 112 may be mounted on one of the at leasttwo support members 132 a, 132 b at a height within 5 feet to 14 feetrelative to the floor of the retail store. In yet another example, thewireless beacon 112 may be mounted on one of the at least two supportmembers 132 a, 132 b at 8 feet relative to the floor of the retailstore. Alternatively or in addition to, each wireless beacon of theplurality of wireless beacons 112 associated with a first row of a pairof rows of a set of shelving units of the plurality of shelving units126 may be a threshold distance apart from other wireless beacon of theplurality of wireless beacons 112, as shown in 304 (aisle top-down viewof the shelving units 126). For example, the threshold distance maycomprise a particular range. In one scenario, each of the wirelessbeacons 112 in the first row and/or the second row may be 12 feet to 15feet apart from another wireless beacons 112. In another scenario, theymay be 9 feet to 25 feet apart from one another. Alternatively or inaddition to, each wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons112 associated with a second row of the pair of rows of the set ofshelving units may be located diagonally relative to the plurality ofwireless beacons 112 associated with the first row, as shown in 304. Byone approach, each of the plurality of wireless beacons 112 associatedthe second row may be the threshold distance apart from other wirelessbeacon of the plurality of wireless beacons 112 associated with thesecond row, as shown in 304. In one example, the wireless beacons 112may all be installed facing down throughout the retail store. In variousembodiments, the location and spacing between wireless beacons ensuresthat a given portable electronic device 102 located in the space will beable to receive wireless beacon signals from at least 2 wirelessbeacons, preferably 3 or more to allow for adequate triangulation todetermine the location of the portable electronic device 102 as itnavigates the space relative to the shelves and products.

Alternatively or in addition to, a first beacon of the plurality ofwireless beacons 112 associated with the first row may be mountedproximate a top-side edge of the at least one of the at least twosupport members 132 a, 132 b of an end shelving unit 202 a of theplurality of shelving units 126 associated with the first row, as shownin 304. By one approach, the top-side edge may not be adjoining anothertop-side edge of a support member 132 a, 132 b associated with anadjoining shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units associatedwith the first row, as shown in 304. Alternatively or in addition to, aset of beacons of the plurality of beacons 112 may be mounted on aceiling over one or more areas of the retail store, as shown in 306(top-down view of an area of the retail store). As illustrated in 306 ofFIG. 3, the plurality of shelving units 126 and/or the shelving unit 202may be proximate to or not located in the one or more areas where theset of beacons of the plurality of beacons 112 are mounted on theceiling. By one approach, each of the set of beacons may be a thresholdapart that is within a particular range of distance. For example, eachof the set of beacons may be separated from one another by a thresholdthat is within 12 feet to 20 feet. In such an example, the threshold mayinclude the end ranges (e.g., 12 feet and 20 feet). In some embodiments,this spacing and arrangement serves to ensure adequate coverage of thearea such that a given portable electronic device 102 will be able toreceive multiple beacon signals for location determination. In someembodiments, the locations of the plurality of retail products 204 maybe projected to the middle of the aisle (e.g., 204 a) as shown in 304 ofFIG. 3 to enable the navigation services control circuit 116 and/or thein-store navigation interface 104 provide more accurate directions 308.That is, from the navigation system standpoint, while the product isactually located on the shelf, the navigation system treats the productas if it were located in the middle of the aisle, or at another locationclose to the actual location of the product. For example, a user mayfollow the directions 308 to the target retail product (e.g., 204 a inFIG. 3) and, when the user is at or proximate 204 a, the user may beprovided one or more directions 308 indicating to the user to turn leftor right and/or indicate to the user that the target retail product iseither to the user's left or right hand side.

In some configuration, the system 100 may include the in-storenavigation interface 104. In one implementation, the in-store navigationinterface 104 comprises a detachable circuitry enclosed in a housing. Inone example, the in-store navigation interface 104 is detachably coupledto the portable electronic device 102. In another implementation, theportable electronic device 102 may comprise a computer program productembodied on a computer readable storage medium associated with theportable electronic device 102. In one example, the computer programproduct may include one or more computer codes for providing customizedin-store navigation to a user inside a retail store. For example, thein-store navigation interface 104 may comprise a mobile app usableand/or downloadable to a mobile phone, such as an iPhone, an ANDROIDphone, and/or the like, from an app store associated with APPLE,ANDROID, and/or other like companies/software the in-store navigationinterface 104 vendors.

To help illustrate, FIG. 10 is an exemplary flow diagram (method 1000)of a system for providing customized in-store navigation in accordancewith some embodiments. For example, the in-store navigation interface104 may receive an input 136 from a user associated with the portableelectronic device 102, at step 1002. In one scenario, the input 136 maycomprise audio/voice, touch-based entry, keyboard-based entry, and othertypes of input to the portable electronic device 102. In an illustrativenon-limiting example, a user having a portable electronic device 102enters a retail store. By one approach, the user may operate on theportable electronic device 102 to communicate and/or couple with theWAPs 124 associated with the retail store. By another approach, theportable electronic device 102 may automatically communicate and/orcouple with the WAPs 124 when the user enters the retail store.Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface 104may identify a target retail product of the plurality of retail products204 from the input 136, at step 1004. For example, the user may utter avoice command such as “I want milk.” In such an example, the in-storenavigation interface 104 may identify that a target retail product maycorrespond to the item “milk. In another example, the in-storenavigation interface 104 may automatically access an electronic shoppingcart associated with the user's retail store account to identify one ormore target retail products that the user may be interested in buying atthe retail store. By one approach, the in-store navigation interface 104may identify one or more target retail products from one or more inputsbased on one or more commercially available and/or known speechprocessing techniques/algorithm/software. In one implementation, thein-store navigation interface 104 may receive the plurality of locationinformation associated with the plurality of product ESLs 130 via atransceiver of the portable electronic device 102 when the navigationservices control circuit 116 determines that the portable electronicdevice 102 is inside the retail store via the portable electronic device102 communicating and/or coupling with at least one of the WAPs 124, atstep 1006. Alternatively or in addition to, the navigation interface 104may receive a layout of a map of the retail store. For example, thenavigation services control circuit 116 may push (e.g., transmit) dataonto the in-store navigation interface 104. By one approach, the datamay comprise locations of the plurality of product ESLs 130 and each ofthe locations is associated with an area in the layout of the map of theretail store. In such an approach, the in-store navigation interface104, after receiving the data pushed by the navigation services controlcircuit 116, may find a target retail product by comparing the targetretail product with each of the retail products associated with each ofthe product ESLs 130 and determining the location of the product ESL 130associated with the target retail product on the layout of the retailstore.

By another approach, the data pushed by the navigation services controlcircuit 11 to the in-store navigation interface 104 may compriselocations of the plurality of product ESLs 130 and the layout of the mapof the retail store. In such an approach, the in-store navigationinterface 104, after receiving the data pushed by the navigationservices control circuit 116, may overlay the locations of the pluralityof product ESLs 130 on the layout of the map of the retail store suchthat when the data is pushed onto the in-store navigation interface 104,the in-store navigation interface 104 may determine a product ESL 130and corresponding location that is associated with the target retailproduct based on the plurality of location information associated withthe plurality of product ESLs 130. In response, the in-store navigationinterface 104 may identify the corresponding location on the layout ofthe map of the retail store. As such, the in-store navigation interface104 may determine a location of the target retail product identifiedfrom the voice input based on the plurality of location informationassociated with the plurality of product ESLs 130. Alternatively or inaddition to, the in-store navigation interface 104 may receive beaconsignals transmitted by the plurality of wireless beacons 112, at step1008. Alternatively or in addition to, the in-store navigation interface104 may determine, in cooperation with the first control circuit 108 ofthe portable electronic device 102 and based on the beacon signals, alocation of the portable electronic device 102, at step 1010, aspreviously described above.

In some embodiments, the in-store navigation interface 104 may displaydirections to the location of the target retail product on a displaydevice 110 of the portable electronic device 102. By one approach, thedirections to the location of the target retail product may be overlaidon the layout of the map of the retail store by the navigation servicescontrol circuit 116 and/or the in-store navigation interface 104. In oneimplementation, when the in-store navigation interface 104 determinesthe location of the target retail product, at step 1012, the in-storenavigation interface 104 may send the determined location to thenavigation services control circuit 116. In response, the navigationservices control circuit 116 may determine directions to the determinedlocation and/or overlay the directions onto the layout of the map of theretail store, and subsequently send the directions with the overlaidlayout of the retail store to the in-store navigation interface 104 inorder for the in-store navigation interface 104 to display at a timeeach direction to the user relative to the user's and/or the portableelectronic device 102's location in the retail store. In anotherimplementation, when the in-store navigation interface 104 determinesthe location of the target retail product, the in-store navigationinterface 104 may determine directions to the determined location and/oroverlay the directions onto the layout of the map of the retail store.By one approach, the in-store navigation interface 104 may displaydirections to the user relative to the user's and/or the portableelectronic device 102's location in the retail store, at step 1014. Insome embodiments, the in-store navigation interface 104 may determinethe directions based in part on sensor data provided by one or moresensors 134 of the portable electronic device 102. By one approach, theone or more sensors 134 may comprise accelerometer, gyroscope useful tonavigation, and/or other types of sensors that may provide data usefulfor determining directions to the target retail product provided to theuser. In some configuration, the portable electronic device 102 maycomprise a smartphone, an iPad, smartwatch, a laptop, and/or the like.In some configuration, the portable electronic device 102 may comprise akiosk, a desktop, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, a set of wireless network-based techniques mayoffer localization and navigation service in a retail store. By oneapproach, the location of an item (e.g., product item) may be collectedbase on a distance drawn from a received signal strength indicator(RSSI) between an Electronic Shelf Label (e.g., shelf ESLs 128, productESLs 130) and BLUETOOTH access point (AP). Alternatively or in additionto, the position of a customer and/or a user may be identified from themeasurement of the RSSI between a mobile device and the AP. By oneapproach, an In-Club map may be pre-constructed based on the locationsof the items. Alternatively or in addition to, an optimal route from thelocation of the customer to the target item may be offered according todifferent business scenarios. For example, in an initial assessment, theaccuracy of the localization systems and the performance of thenavigation system in a mini store environment may be validated. In onescenario, the new In-Club navigation system (e.g., the in-storenavigation interface 104 and/or the navigation services control circuit116) may offer a more convenient and easier shopping experience.

For example, a retail store is generally the most widely visited placesfor general shopping needs fulfillment. This type of business may sellconsumer goods to customers through multiple channels of distribution inthe stores to earn a profit. As such, a shopping environment of theretail store may have a substantial effect on the retail store'sprofitability. Generally, a pleasant and convenient store environmentcould provide a positive emotional state of the customers and mayfurther bring a positive contribution on the store's profitability.Embodiments described herein provides illustrative non-limiting examplesthat provide creating a pleasant, entertaining experience for theconsumer who may be interested in not only just the product, but alsothe store atmosphere. The embodiments described herein describeimprovements on the shopping environment. For example, improvementsand/or benefits of the embodiments described herein contributes to thedesign and/or implementation of a more convenient shopping environment,such as providing customized in-store navigation to a user inside aretail store. By one approach, the design and/or implementation may bean improvement to a shopping experience in a conventional retail store.Alternatively or in addition to, the design and/or implementation may bean improvement integrated into a design and/or implementation of a newretail store.

In some embodiments, a series of wireless network-based techniques mayoffer localization and path planning service in a retail storeenvironment. For example, the location of items (e.g., the retailproducts 204) shown in FIG. 2 may be obtained from received signalstrength indicator (RSSI) between an Electronic Shelf Label (ESL) andBluetooth access point (AP). By one approach, the location of thecustomer may be obtained using the Bluetooth based localizationtechniques. Alternatively or in addition to, a map of all the items inthe entire store shown in FIG. 4 may be constructed and made availablefor the customers to download on their mobile app. In someconfigurations, an optimal path may be offered by a recommendationengine (e.g., the portable electronic device 102, the in-storenavigation interface 104, the ESL services control circuit 122, and/orthe core services control circuit 120) based on the location of thecustomer, the locations of all the target items as well as some extrainformation such as time, user name, historical data, etc. As such, theIn-Club navigation system may be customized to the customer and/or mayoffer a more efficient and friendly shopping experience.

In some implementations, the In-Club localization systems may be dividedinto two parts: item localization (e.g. see FIGS. 1-2), customerlocalization (e.g., see FIGS. 1-3 and 13). In some configurations, theIn-Club localization systems may be based on the BLUETOOTH basedlocalization technique generally known in the industry. By one approach,the systems may include components shown in FIGS. 2 and 13. For example,the systems may include a multi-antenna Bluetooth access point (AP) 124configured to estimate location, variable attenuators 1302 (which maysupport multi-antenna Bluetooth access point (AP)), a location sever(e.g., the navigation services control circuit 116), and a mobile devicewith Bluetooth support (e.g., the portable electronic device 102). Byone approach, when a Bluetooth empowered device enters the environment,a connection between the device and the AP's antenna may be established,and then the signal strength may be recorded for each value of theattenuators. In response, the location information may then be evaluatedusing triangulation or a RADAR like reference technique/algorithm.

For example, a technique based on Bluetooth positioning to determine thelocation of an item and/or to improve the accuracy and reusability ofthe item localization system. For example, the technique may determinethe location of an ESL by sensing Bluetooth signal strength with areference model-based approach. As shown in FIG. 2, series ofmulti-antenna Bluetooth access points (AP) may have been pre-installedand the location may have been defined. The AP may establish aconnection with the ESL using an antenna, and the signal strengths maybe recorded for each value of the attenuators. The AP may be able toswitch antenna while maintain the connections with the ESL to reduce theconnection establish time. The received signal strength may then bemapped from RSSI using some advanced commercially known techniques.Further, the location of an item may be referenced from the location ofan ESL which may calculated based on received signal strength usingtriangulation or a RADAR like techniques/algorithm. In one scenario, allthe ESLs may be designed to work in a low power consumption conditionand may be easily adjusted for item relocation. As such, the use of theESL may provide a solution for a low cost, accurate and/or convenientitem localization solution.

In one configuration, the In-Club localization system may find thelocation of a moving customer continuously and/or accurately based atleast in part on usage of BLUETOOTH signal strength of a widelydeployable location sensing system. By one approach, FIG. 13 may showsome of the components and/or elements used in the customer localizationsystem. For example, a multi-antenna Bluetooth access point (AP) basedlocation estimation technique may be used. In one configuration, the APmay estimate the location of a device empowered by BLUETOOTH. In onescenario, each antenna may be connected to an AP through an attenuatorwhich may be controlled by a location data server (e.g., the navigationservices control circuit 116). The AP may establish a connection with aBLUETOOTH device automatically when the device enters the environment.By one approach, a variable attenuator multi-antenna Bluetooth AP maypreserve the connection between AP and mobile devices. Alternatively orin addition to, the signal strength may be recorded for each value ofthe attenuator. By one approach, the location estimation may be based ona reference model-based approach that may be generally known in theindustry. In some embodiment, a map for the whole store may bepre-constructed and made available to the customers to download. FIG. 4shows a full pre-defined store map may be generated. By one approach,the map may be updated when a shelf is moved to a different location inthe retail store. For example, the item location and the store map maybe pre-collected and/or modified. As such, the customer localizationsystem may offer a real time location information through the In-Clubnavigation service.

In one configuration, the In-Club navigation system may improve theshopping experience in a retail store. By one approach, a set of pathplanning techniques may offer a more efficient and/or convenientnavigation service in a retailing store. As such, the embodimentsdescribed herein minimizes the in store travel time of a customer. Insome embodiments, the directions displayed to the user may be a shortestpath searching in a rectangular graph with blockage as shown in FIG. 12.In other embodiments, the path may be determined based on the shortesttravel time. In other embodiments, the path may be based at least inpart on the directing the customer past other items that may be ofpotential purchasing interest of the customer. For example, the path maybe slightly longer, but it directs the customer past other products thatthe customer has purchased in the past or based on information, mightpotentially be purchased by the customer if directed past them. In FIG.5, the store map may be represented using the big rectangle which isdivided into several small squares. Each small square may refer to apotential movement from its neighbors. The shadow area denotes toblockages such as other goods or pre-built infrastructures in the storewhich the customer cannot walk through. Additionally, the customer mayfollow the directions 308 to the target item 204 from the starting point402. By one approach, the path planning process described herein may bebased on one or more key assumptions, for example, a customer can onlymove vertically or horizontally (4 directions in total) on the map. Thisassumption may be valid since the spatial resolution of the customerlocalization systems may be in sub-meter regime. As such, by taking allthe above modeling and assumptions approach together, the shortest pathplanning could be treated as a simple breadth first search problem whichcan be solved by utilizing a queue. The directions 308 in FIG. 5 showsone of the optimal paths from the customer A 402 to the target item B204 obtained through a simple breadth first search denote as P.

Finding optimal paths for multiple items may be based on one or moreapproaches. For example, for small amount/number of items, exhaustivesearch algorithms may be used to find optimal paths. In another example,for large amount/number of items, heuristic algorithms may be used tofind sub-optimal solutions. These techniques/approaches may offer anideal path to a customer when we have extra information such as multipleshopping items, historical shopping record, time and/or date of theshopping event etc. The embodiments described herein may offer anIn-Club recommendation system that may remind the customer of anypotential missing items on their shopping list; the most money savingitems the customer does not realized but might be needed in the nearfuture etc. In some exemplary embodiments, the optimum path P may thenbe selected by maximizing

Score(p)=α·D(p)+βI(p)+γ·H(c)

where the D (p) denotes the travel distance of a particular path, theI(p) denotes the score of the potential shopping items along the path,the H(c) denotes the historical shopping data of a certain customer. Theparameters of α, β, γ are determined using the historical training data.By doing this, a real time, customer specific In-Club recommendationsystem is offered that can substantially and/or significantly enhancethe customers shopping experience. For an initial evaluation, the itemlocalization system, customer localization system as well as thepre-constructed store map was setup for a mini store, a real-worldshopping experience within the mini-store. The accuracy of thelocalization systems for item and customer were evaluated. This processwas repeated for a range of values of item location and the customerlocation. The effectiveness of the In-Club navigation system is thenevaluated by comparing two groups of items searching time with andwithout the navigation systems. The result of the initial evaluation,the In-Club localization systems offers a good location estimation forboth items and customers. As such, the In-Club navigation system cansignificantly reduce the item searching time for the customer. Thus, theretailing store is generally used for regular shopping purpose. However,searching for a particular item in a big retailing store could sometimesbecome a challenging task. In some embodiments, a set of techniquesbased on Bluetooth may be implemented to improve the convenience in aretailing store environment. As a first step, one or more techniquesdescribed herein were evaluated at a mini retail store that has a fullfunctionality of a regular retailing store. The results showed that thetechniques as described in the embodiments herein afforded much greaterconvenience than the conventional and/or traditional retailing storethat is not implementing these embodiments. Thus, the embodimentsdescribed herein may render shopping in a retailing store to be moreconvenient by, for example, only altering a small portion of thehardware and software in a retailing store while maintaining most of itsoriginal component. Further, the added capability of providing In-Clubnavigation may allow the conventional retailing store to also offerIn-Club recommendation service.

To illustrate, FIGS. 4-9 are schematic illustrations of an exemplarymap/directions displayed on a portable electronic device of a system forproviding customized in-store navigation in accordance with someembodiments. For example, FIG. 4 is an illustrative non-limiting exampleof the directions to a target location as displayed by the in-storenavigation interface 104 on the display device 110. In FIG. 4, a user'sstarting location 402 and the determined location of a target retailproduct 204 are identified on a layout of a map 400 of a retail store.By one approach, the map 400 shows the directions 308 from the user'sstarting location 402 to the location of the target retail product 204.In another example, FIGS. 5-9 is an illustrative non-limiting example ofa turn by turn direction 308 to a target location as displayed by thein-store navigation interface 104 on the display device 110. In FIG. 5,a map 500 of the retail store shows that a user has started walkingtowards the location of the target retail product 204 from the user'sstarting location 402. In some implementation, the target retail product204 may be pictorially identified 502. In FIG. 6, a map 600 of theretail store shows that the user is directed to turn left after 2.0 ft.In another approach, the units of the distance may comprise Metric unitsand English units. In FIG. 7, a map 700 of the retail store shows thatthe user is directed to make another left turn after 13.9 ft. In FIG. 8,a map 800 of the retail store shows that the user is about to reach thetarget retail product 204 after 9.6 ft. In FIG. 9, a map 900 of theretail store shows that the user has reached the location of the targetretail product 204. The pictorial identification 502 of the targetretail product 204 may also indicate that the user has arrived at thelocation of the target retail product 204.

In some implementation, the maps 500, 600, 700, 800, and/or 900 mayinclude a scan icon 504, a listing icon 506, and/or a shopping cart icon508. In one example, the scan icon 504 may be operated on by the userwhen the user sees a product item that is desirable to be included inthe electronic shopping cart associated with the shopping cart icon 508(e.g., product items in the electronic shopping cart may include productitems that the user is ready to purchase prior to leaving the retailstore) and/or a listing of product items associated with the listingicon 506 that the user may purchase in the future. In another example,there are various functionalities that may be associated with theelectronic shopping cart associated with the shopping cart icon 508and/or the listing of product items associated with the listing icon 506that are usable in providing an efficient and/or pleasant shoppingexperience by the user at a retail store. In some embodiments, the maps500, 600, 700, 800, and/or 900 may include one or more pop-ups (e.g.,shown in FIGS. 14-15) that provides one or more descriptions (includingpictorial depictions) associated with one or more retail products thatthe user may passed by (e.g., 1402 of FIG. 14) and/or within a proximatedistance to the user as the user follows the directions provided on thedisplay device 110 (e.g., 1502 of FIG. 15). In one example, the one ormore pop-ups may be associated with products that the user frequentlybuys, may want to buy based on a purchase history, buying patterns,and/or the like, and/or one or more promotional products. In someimplementation, the user inputs 136 may be based at least in part onsmart shopping list created and associated with the user based at leastin part on the user's buying history, patterns, tendencies, and/or thelike. In some embodiments, such pop-ups may be overlaid with thenavigation and may include interactive elements that may be viewed andselected by the user. Interactive elements can include images, photos,videos, data and/or links thereto, that can relate to the items,promotions, product information, store events, etc., and can representan augmentation to the navigational directional display presented to theuser.

Further, the circuits, circuitry, systems, devices, processes, methods,techniques, functionality, services, servers, sources and the likedescribed herein may be utilized, implemented and/or run on manydifferent types of devices and/or systems. FIG. 11 illustrates anexemplary system 1100 that may be used for implementing any of thecomponents, circuits, circuitry, systems, functionality, apparatuses,processes, or devices of the system 100 of FIG. 1, the method 1000 ofFIG. 10, and/or other above or below mentioned systems or devices, orparts of such circuits, circuitry, functionality, systems, apparatuses,processes, or devices. For example, the system 1100 may be used toimplement some or all of the system for providing customized in-storenavigation to a user inside a retail store, the portable electronicdevice 102, the in-store navigation interface 104, the transceiver 106,the first control circuit 108, the display device 110, the plurality ofwireless beacons 112, the plurality of databases 114, the navigationservices control circuit 116, the one or more databases 118, the shelfelectronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs) 128, the product electronic shelflabels (product ESLs) 130, the wireless access points (WAPs) 124, theESL services control circuit 122, the core services control circuit 120,and/or other such components, circuitry, functionality and/or devices.However, the use of the system 1100 or any portion thereof is certainlynot required.

By way of example, the system 1100 may comprise a processor module (or acontrol circuit) 1112, memory 1114, and one or more communication links,paths, buses or the like 1118. Some embodiments may include one or moreuser interfaces 1116, and/or one or more internal and/or external powersources or supplies 1140. The control circuit 1112 can be implementedthrough one or more processors, microprocessors, central processingunit, logic, local digital storage, firmware, software, and/or othercontrol hardware and/or software, and may be used to execute or assistin executing the steps of the processes, methods, functionality andtechniques described herein, and control various communications,decisions, programs, content, listings, services, interfaces, logging,reporting, etc. Further, in some embodiments, the control circuit 1112can be part of control circuitry and/or a control system 1110, which maybe implemented through one or more processors with access to one or morememory 1114 that can store instructions, code and the like that isimplemented by the control circuit and/or processors to implementintended functionality. In some applications, the control circuit and/ormemory may be distributed over a communications network (e.g., LAN, WAN,Internet) providing distributed and/or redundant processing andfunctionality. Again, the system 1100 may be used to implement one ormore of the above or below, or parts of, components, circuits, systems,processes and the like. For example, the system 1100 may implement thesystem for providing customized in-store navigation to a user inside aretail store with the first control circuit 108, the portable electronicdevice 102, the navigation services control circuit 116, the ESLservices control circuit 122, and/or the core services control circuit120 being the control circuit 1112.

The user interface 1116 can allow a user to interact with the system1100 and receive information through the system. In some instances, theuser interface 1116 includes a display 1122 and/or one or more userinputs 1124, such as buttons, touch screen, track ball, keyboard, mouse,etc., which can be part of or wired or wirelessly coupled with thesystem 1100. Typically, the system 1100 further includes one or morecommunication interfaces, ports, transceivers 1120 and the like allowingthe system 1100 to communicate over a communication bus, a distributedcomputer and/or communication network (e.g., a local area network (LAN),the Internet, wide area network (WAN), etc.), communication link 1118,other networks or communication channels with other devices and/or othersuch communications or combination of two or more of such communicationmethods. Further the transceiver 1120 can be configured for wired,wireless, optical, fiber optical cable, satellite, or other suchcommunication configurations or combinations of two or more of suchcommunications. Some embodiments include one or more input/output (I/O)interface 1134 that allow one or more devices to couple with the system1100. The I/O interface can be substantially any relevant port orcombinations of ports, such as but not limited to USB, Ethernet, orother such ports. The I/O interface 1134 can be configured to allowwired and/or wireless communication coupling to external components. Forexample, the I/O interface can provide wired communication and/orwireless communication (e.g., Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, cellular, RF, and/orother such wireless communication), and in some instances may includeany known wired and/or wireless interfacing device, circuit and/orconnecting device, such as but not limited to one or more transmitters,receivers, transceivers, or combination of two or more of such devices.

In some embodiments, the system may include one or more sensors 1126 toprovide information to the system and/or sensor information that iscommunicated to another component, such as the portable electronicdevice 102, the in-store navigation interface 104, the first controlcircuit 108, the plurality of databases 114, the navigation servicescontrol circuit 116, the one or more databases 118, the shelf electronicshelf labels (shelf ESLs) 128, the product electronic shelf labels(product ESLs) 130, the wireless access points (WAPs) 124, the ESLservices control circuit 122, the core services control circuit 120,etc. The sensors can include substantially any relevant sensor, such astemperature sensors, distance measurement sensors (e.g., optical units,sound/ultrasound units, etc.), optical based scanning sensors to senseand read optical patterns (e.g., bar codes), radio frequencyidentification (RFID) tag reader sensors capable of reading RFID tags inproximity to the sensor, and other such sensors. The foregoing examplesare intended to be illustrative and are not intended to convey anexhaustive listing of all possible sensors. Instead, it will beunderstood that these teachings will accommodate sensing any of a widevariety of circumstances in a given application setting.

The system 1100 comprises an example of a control and/or processor-basedsystem with the control circuit 1112. Again, the control circuit 1112can be implemented through one or more processors, controllers, centralprocessing units, logic, software and the like. Further, in someimplementations the control circuit 1112 may provide multiprocessorfunctionality.

The memory 1114, which can be accessed by the control circuit 1112,typically includes one or more processor readable and/or computerreadable media accessed by at least the control circuit 1112, and caninclude volatile and/or nonvolatile media, such as RAM, ROM, EEPROM,flash memory and/or other memory technology. Further, the memory 1114 isshown as internal to the control system 1110; however, the memory 1114can be internal, external or a combination of internal and externalmemory. Similarly, some or all of the memory 1114 can be internal,external or a combination of internal and external memory of the controlcircuit 1112. The external memory can be substantially any relevantmemory such as, but not limited to, solid-state storage devices ordrives, hard drive, one or more of universal serial bus (USB) stick ordrive, flash memory secure digital (SD) card, other memory cards, andother such memory or combinations of two or more of such memory, andsome or all of the memory may be distributed at multiple locations overthe computer network. The memory 1114 can store code, software,executables, scripts, data, content, lists, programming, programs, logor history data, user information, customer information, productinformation, and the like. While FIG. 11 illustrates the variouscomponents being coupled together via a bus, it is understood that thevarious components may actually be coupled to the control circuit and/orone or more other components directly.

Those skilled in the art will recognize that a wide variety of othermodifications, alterations, and combinations can also be made withrespect to the above described embodiments without departing from thescope of the invention, and that such modifications, alterations, andcombinations are to be viewed as being within the ambit of the inventiveconcept.

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for providing customized in-storenavigation to a user inside a retail store comprising: a plurality ofshelving units in a retail store configured to store a plurality ofretail products, each of the plurality of shelving units comprises aplurality of shelves each distributed along a height of and in betweenat least two support members coupled to each end of the plurality ofshelves; a plurality of shelf electronic shelf labels (shelf ESLs),wherein each shelf ESL of the plurality of shelf ESLs is mounted to aportion of the shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units; aplurality of product electronic shelf labels (product ESLs)communicatively coupled to at least one of the plurality of shelf ESLs,wherein at least one of the plurality of product ESLs is associated withat least one of the plurality of shelves of the shelving unit, whereineach product ESL being associated with a set of product items belongingto a particular retail product of the plurality of retail products; aplurality of wireless access points (WAPs) configured to wirelesscommunicate with the at least one of the plurality of shelf ESLs and theplurality of product ESLs, the plurality of WAPs configured to becoupled to an ESL services control circuit; one or more databasesconfigured to store a plurality of location information associated withthe plurality of product ESLs at the retail store relative to a layoutof a map of the retail store; a navigation services control circuitcoupled to the WAPs and the one or more databases and configured totransmit the plurality of location information associated with theplurality of product ESLs at the retail store to an in-store navigationinterface operable on a portable electronic device when the portableelectronic device is inside the retail store; a plurality of wirelessbeacons located proximate to the plurality of shelving units andconfigured to transmit wireless beacon signals; and the in-storenavigation interface configured to: receive an input from a userassociated with the portable electronic device; identify a target retailproduct of the plurality of retail products from the input; receive theplurality of location information associated with the plurality ofproduct ESLs via a transceiver of the portable electronic device;receive beacon signals transmitted by the plurality of wireless beacons;determine, in cooperation with a first control circuit of the portableelectronic device and based on the beacon signals, a location of theportable electronic device; determine a location of the target retailproduct identified from the voice input based on the plurality oflocation information associated with the plurality of product ESLs; anddisplay directions to the location of the target retail product on adisplay device of the portable electronic device, wherein the directionsto the location of the target retail product are overlaid on the layoutof the map of the retail store.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein eachof the shelf ESLs is mounted to each one of the at least two supportmembers.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein each of the shelf ESLs isassociated with a particular shelving unit of the plurality of shelvingunits.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein each wireless beacon signal ofthe plurality of wireless beacons comprises a beacon identifier.
 5. Thesystem of claim 1, wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality ofwireless beacons is mounted proximate a top edge of the at least one ofthe at least two support members of the shelving unit.
 6. The system ofclaim 1, wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality of wirelessbeacons that is associated with a first row of a pair of rows of a setof shelving units of the plurality of shelving units is a thresholddistance apart from other wireless beacon of the plurality of wirelessbeacons.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein each wireless beacon of theplurality of wireless beacons that is associated with a second row ofthe pair of rows of the set of shelving units is located diagonallyrelative to the plurality of wireless beacons associated with the firstrow, and wherein each of the plurality of wireless beacons associatedthe second row is the threshold distance apart from other wirelessbeacon of the plurality of wireless beacons associated with the secondrow.
 8. The system of claim 6, wherein a first beacon of the pluralityof wireless beacons associated with the first row is mounted proximate atop-side edge of the at least one of the at least two support members ofan end shelving unit of the plurality of shelving units associated withthe first row, wherein the top-side edge is not adjoining anothertop-side edge of a support member associated with an adjoining shelvingunit of the plurality of shelving units associated with the first row.9. The system of claim 1, wherein a set of beacons of the plurality ofbeacons is mounted on a ceiling over one or more areas of the retailstore, wherein the plurality of shelving units are not located in theone or more areas.
 10. The system of claim 1, further comprising: theESL services control circuit configured to: receive the plurality oflocation information transmitted by the plurality of product ESLs; andtransmit particular pricing information to each of the plurality ofproduct ESLs; a plurality of databases configured to store one or moreof a plurality of pricing data, a plurality of product items data, aplurality of product items sales descriptions, and a plurality ofpromotional data; and a core services control circuit coupled to the ESLservices control circuit, the plurality of databases, and the navigationservices control circuit, the core services control circuit configuredto: receive the plurality of location information of the plurality ofproduct ESLs from the ESL services control circuit; and transmit theplurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs tothe navigation services control circuit, wherein the navigation servicescontrol circuit is further configured to: associate each of theplurality of location information of the plurality of product ESLs withone or more floor areas in the retail store; and transmit the map of theretail store to the in-store navigation interface.
 11. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the plurality of WAPs comprise WIFI-based access pointsand the plurality of wireless beacons comprise BLUETOOTH-based beacons.12. A method for providing customized in-store navigation to a userinside a retail store comprising: receiving, by an in-store navigationinterface operable on a portable electronic device when the portableelectronic device is inside a retail store, an input from a userassociated with the portable electronic device; identifying, by thein-store navigation interface, a target retail product of a plurality ofretail products from the input; receiving, by the in-store navigationinterface from a navigation services control circuit, a plurality oflocation information associated with a plurality of product ESLs via atransceiver of the portable electronic device, wherein at least one ofthe plurality of product ESLs is associated with at least one of aplurality of shelves of a shelving unit of a plurality of shelving unitsin the retail store, wherein each product ESLs of the plurality ofproduct ESLs is associated with a set of product items belonging to aparticular retail product of the plurality of retail products, andwherein each of the plurality of shelving units comprises a plurality ofshelves each distributed along a height of and in between at least twosupport members coupled to each end of the plurality of shelves;receiving, by the in-store navigation interface, beacon signalstransmitted by a plurality of wireless beacons in the retail store;determining, by the in-store navigation interface in cooperation with afirst control circuit of the portable electronic device and based on thebeacon signals, a location of the portable electronic device;determining, by the in-store navigation interface, a location of thetarget retail product identified from the input based on the pluralityof location information associated with the plurality of product ESLs,wherein plurality of location information associated with the pluralityof product ESLs is transmitted by a plurality of shelf electronic shelflabels (shelf ESLs) to a plurality of wireless access points (WAPs); anddisplaying, by the in-store navigation interface, a direction to thelocation of the target retail product to a display device of theportable electronic device, wherein the direction to the location of thetarget retail product is overlaid on a layout of a map of the retailstore, and wherein the plurality of location information associated withthe plurality of product ESLs at the retail store relative to the layoutof the map are stored by one or more databases coupled to the navigationservices control circuit.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein each ofthe shelf ESLs is mounted to each one of the at least two supportmembers.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein each of the shelf ESLs isassociated with a particular shelf unit of the plurality of shelvingunits.
 15. The method of claim 12, wherein each wireless beacon signalof the plurality of wireless beacons coupled to the in-store navigationinterface comprises a beacon identifier
 16. The method of claim 12,wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons ismounted proximate a top edge of the at least one of the at least twosupport members of the shelving unit.
 17. The method of claim 12,wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons thatis associated with a first row of a pair of rows of a set of shelvingunits of the plurality of shelving units is a threshold distance apartfrom other wireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons.
 18. Themethod of claim 17, wherein each wireless beacon of the plurality ofwireless beacons that is associated with a second row of the pair ofrows of the set of shelving units is located diagonally relative to thebeacons associated with the first row, and wherein each of the beaconsassociated the second row is the threshold distance apart from otherwireless beacon of the plurality of wireless beacons associated with thesecond row.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein a first beacon of theplurality of wireless beacons associated with the first row is mountedproximate a top-side edge of the at least one of the at least twosupport members of an end shelf unit of the plurality of shelving unitsassociated with the first row, wherein the top-side edge is notadjoining another top-side edge of a support member associated with anadjoining shelf unit of the plurality of shelving units associated withthe first row.
 20. The method of claim 12, wherein a set of beacons ofthe plurality of beacons is mounted on a ceiling over one or more areasof the retail store, wherein the plurality of shelving units are notlocated in the one or more areas.
 21. The method of claim 12, whereinthe plurality of WAPs comprise WIFI-based access points and theplurality of wireless beacons comprise BLUETOOTH-based beacons.